


hold me while you wait

by BarbAndCo



Series: in this life, in the next [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, it has a happy ending kinda, it's not that sad, just lukewarm sad, writer attempts to be poetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27838090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarbAndCo/pseuds/BarbAndCo
Summary: Sokka and Yue are soulmatesZuko and Jet are soulmatesSokka loses Yue at the Siege of the NorthZuko loses Jet at Ba Sing SeSokka and Zuko find each other.It’s enough… for now… for a little while… until it’s over
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: in this life, in the next [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148294
Comments: 16
Kudos: 102





	hold me while you wait

_Sokka and Yue are soulmates  
Zuko and Jet are soulmates _

_Sokka loses Yue at the Siege of the North  
Zuko loses Jet at Ba Sing Se _

_Sokka and Zuko find each other.  
It’s enough… for now… for a little while… until it’s over _  
  


* * *

Every child is born with a mark. Elders say that it is another attempt by the Spirits to help humans. First came the bending to help people navigate the world and came next were the soul marks. 

See, there are some humans born with the ability to bend the elements, while some of the truly fortunate or unfortunate are brought into the world with only half of their souls. To find their other half, they are marked. A compass guiding their way back home so they can be whole once more. 

Once they are born, they get matching marks. A brand across their skin that tethers the two half of the souls together. _Find them_ , the mark urges. Find them, fall in love, and be whole. 

But the Spirits aren’t all knowing. Or perhaps, some are simply cruel. Because if the deities were merciful, why would they bother with these soulmates, make them hope and pine and yearn for a person they haven’t met with the promise of love everlasting, only for them to never meet at all.

Worse- for them to die in the arms of their love. Or even worse yet; only for them to be taken away even before finding out who they were meant to be with all along. 

How can the fates be so cruel to mark them up and send them off into the world. Promise them love so true only to lose each other forevermore. 

  
  
  


_**\- The Moon and the Warrior -** _

  
  


The stories say the only son of Hakoda, the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, was born under a full moon. The little boy was born crying, loud as he can, so loud even the stars above could hear. 

From the opposite end of the world, the only daughter of Arnook, the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe was born under the full moon. The little girl was born silent, no cries coming out, quiet and still as a stone.

In his despair and desperation, Chief Arnook prayed to the spirits. He begged them to save his little girl. The Moon Spirit listened and Princess Yue was reborn— her hair as pale and bright as moon light and her back painted with a soul mark. Koi fish, black and white, circling each other in an eternal embrace.

In the Southern Water Tribe, much fanfare is to be had because on Sokka’s chest, as he is huddled warm in his mother’s embrace, a mark blooms. Koi fish, black and white, circling each other in an eternal embrace. 

_Soulmates._

  
  
  


**_\- The Prince and the Rebel -_ **

  
  


A prince is born in the Fire Nation Palace and his father seals his fate. The boy is weak and so he must burn. A mother’s love can only do so much but she protects her boy until she runs, gets stolen away in the night never to be seen again.

The prince grows up and he traces his body stained with scars and a curious mark… enchanting and peculiar… two hooked blades… they are set ablaze.

At the opposite end of the world, a little boy is born and he is loved. _Oh, how he is loved_. He is the most cherished boy in the land. But the land is not safe and the conquerors come and set his world on fire. His father falls and his mother holds him tightly before she tells him to run and the boy does, never seeing his parents again.

The beloved boy grows up and he traces his body stained with scars and a curious mark… magical and grim… two hooked blades… they are, to his horror, set ablaze.

_Soulmates._

  
  


**_\- The Warrior Finds the Princess -_ **

  
  


It is at the North Pole where Sokka and Princess Yue find each other. The other half of their soul. She is beautiful and kind and her eyes speak of depths he hopes to get lost in forever. He is brave and foolhardy with charm and wit she hopes to bear witness for the rest of her life. And she does.

Their hands touch and the world rights itself. They never noticed how it was upturned before, but now the universe is balanced and everything finally feels the way it should be— like the way the spirits have determined, the way it was always fated to be.

  
  


**_\- The Rebel Finds the Refugee -_ **

  
  


At a ferry to Ba Sing Se is where Zuko and Jet find each other. The other half of the prince’s soul doesn’t recognize him under the disguise and the rebel refuses to see beyond his burning rage.

Their blades meet and the world trips and fumbles and falls. The world was too chaotic for them to notice how their fates have been upended and how everything feels wrong— like the spirits weep with sorrow, the way fate never intended it to be.

  
  
  


**_\- The Siege of the North -_ **

  
  


The moon spirit burns and the world is thrust into chaos. A blood red tint swallows everything whole, raging a path of destruction and promising pain and sorrow. Princess Yue kneels before the dying Moon Spirit and repays the life she has been gifted. She ascends to the night sky.

Sokka weeps as the other half of his soul is ripped from him. He weeps as she takes the burden of destiny on her shoulders. He weeps.

They part with a final kiss. A last goodbye. Gone forever.

  
  
  


**_\- The Secret of Lake Logai -_ **

Jet dies. Zuko feels it. A burning on his side. Worse than when his father set his face on fire. Worse than the burning in his lungs as he struggled for air in the cold arctic. Worse than lighting. 

_Worse. Worse. Worse._

His soul is on fire. And it won’t stop. The pain consumes him. Swallows him whole. 

Zuko can’t breathe.

Jet lies on the cold ground and dies never knowing.

  
  
  


**_\- An Interlude -_ **

It is years after the war, the balance is restored, there is peace among the nations. But in this quiet lies broken hearts and broken people. Still alive, still breathing, trying to survive. 

It is years after everything is done, and yet Sokka still looks up at the moon and his heart beats for a lover impossible to reach. 

It is years after the war and yet Zuko is still haunted by a boy whose hatred could fill oceans and his heart beats for a love never felt. 

  
  


**_\-- An Interlude --  
_ **

Sokka is reminded of his failure every time he looks up at the night sky. And every night you will find him watching the moon. He will not tell anyone but he believes she is looking back.

Zuko dreams of his fated love and his doomed fate. Every night as he closes his eyes the burning is there. And as he sleeps, he embraces the fires of a bond so frayed, jagged, and broken, and tells himself it is home.

  
  


**_\--- An Interlude ---_ **

It is decades and somehow two broken souls find their way to each other. They don’t fit. They never will. They weren’t made to. They sit next to each other… hold each other close… and pretend that this is enough.

  
  


**_\---- An Interlude ----_ **

Sokka looks up at the moon while reveling in Zuko’s embrace. It is warm here but what he wouldn’t give to feel even the cool touch of the moon on his skin. He is certain that his prince-not really his-feels the same way.

In another man’s arms, Zuko anguishes, as he usually does, over a love lost and never again will be found. He is certain that he will give up a lifetime of peace and more for a simile of the love promised, for even just a glimpse of Jet’s eyes filled with hurt, betrayal, and hatred. 

What the warrior and the prince ask only of each other is something simple, _hold me while you wait_.

  
  


**_\---- An Interlude ----_ **

He thinks he knows what love is. Or a shadow of it. An imitation. Something close to what it should be. Good enough. At the very least, trying its best.

 _I love you,_ he says and it’s not a lie. Not exactly.

He had a glimpse of what love was. 

Blink and it was gone.

He’s missed it.

  
  


**_\----- An Interlude -----_ **

  
  


_“If I didn’t know what true love was, I’d think this was it.”_

_“And if I didn’t know what true pain was, I think that could have hurt.”_

  
  
  


**_\------ An Interlude ------_ **

They live.

That’s all that matters.

Through everything they survive.

And finally they can find peace.

  
  
  


**_\- The Moon and the Warrior -_ **

Sokka, the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, passes away.

It only seems right that the boy whose skin was touched by the moon spirit herself, placing her mark right on his chest, written it over his heart, dies when the moon is full.

It has been said that when Chief Sokka died, the moon came down from her perch up in the sky to take her soulmate by the hand and lead him up to the heavens.

They send his remains off to sea as if bringing the ocean spirit and the moon spirit together once more.

Forever circling each other. 

_Finally complete_.

  
  


**_\- The Prince and the Rebel -_ **

Fire Lord Zuko passes away.

It happens in his sleep. He expects the fire of his frayed soul and broken connection to come to life once more— but instead of pain and the flames licking at his core, his very being, a burning he has welcomed for decades… he is met with warmth.

A wonderful warmth.

It glows.

It is home.

In the afterlife, the ill-fated prince and doomed rebel meet for the first time.

_“Zuko”_

_“Jet.”_

Together once more.

_Finally complete._

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> there goes my first attempt at something sad. thanks so much for reading! hope it wasn't too bad. 
> 
> you know where to reach me :)


End file.
